Determination Analysis as a Tool to Investigate the Contingencies of Various Components of Biocenosis

Specific application of determination analysis to investigate the contingencies of various components of natural biocenosis was illustrated by the example of fish production and biomass of phyto- and zooplankton. Determination analysis confirms the theoretic assumptions on food preferences of herbivorous fish: both silver and bighead carps avoided feeding on cyanobacteria. Being a facultative phytoplankton feeder, silver carp preferred microalgae to zooplankton. Determination analysis allowed us to demonstrate the contingencies of the mean biomass of phyto- and zooplankton during both the whole fish production cycle and its individual periods.__________Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Biologicheskaya, No. 3, 2005, pp. 327–335.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Bulgakov, Maximov.